Mass change Leads Status

[PvanderValk]

Our organization is just starting to use the new Leads object as a part of our process. As it turns out, HubSpot has been creating Leads for us for a while and 90%+ of them are not considered Leads. How do I mass change these Leads to have Lead Status = Disqualified, and possibly even have the Disqualification Reason mass changed? We are talking 4 digit number of Leads that we need to change.

And the other thing: how can one person do it? We have several sales people and they want to use their time selling. not changing data. How can I get access to all the Leads, because at this point I can only see my own Leads

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @PvanderValk,

The best way to do so is probably currently a lead-based workflow. In such a workflow, you can set up enrollment triggers to your liking, then use the "Set property value" workflow action to update leads in bulk:

I'm sure HubSpot will introduce bulk options soon. Until then, this is the fastest workaround.

Best regards!

[PvanderValk]

Hi Karsten, I looked into the Workflow option, but I don't see how I can use it. For simplicity's sake, let's say I have 100 Leads. Of those, 10 should remain Leads, 15 are currently in Deals, 35 are Unqualified because of 'Budget Constraints', and 40 are  Unqualified because 'Not a Good Fit'. 

How would you start t set this up?

TIA

Patrick

[karstenkoehler]

Hi @PvanderValk, how do you determine which one is which? Is this already documented in some way / somewhere or would you make that call by reviewing each lead?

[PvanderValk]

An idea is to give Lead Owners a spreadsheet and ask them to assign values to their Leads. However, it is not clear to me how we can get pertinent information out of HubSpot and back into it, including Lead ID.

[karstenkoehler]

@PvanderValk is there a reason you first want to export this information for editing, then edit outside of HubSpot, then re-import into HubSpot? Why not edit directly within HubSpot?

I understand that typically users feel a bit more familiar with Excel than with HubSpot but I would recommend not bypassing HubSpot for one-by-one work like this. It creates the false impression that some things should not be happening in the platform that is likely your source of truth.

[PvanderValk]

This is a one-time clean-up. I want to make it as little impact as possible on the people who need to sell. Just trying to find a way to make that happen.

[karstenkoehler]

@PvanderValk as of now, leads can't be exported and re-imported. Anything process that involves exporting would rely on the association to the contact object - which might cause issues if it's not always a 1:1 association or if there are company leads.

If you do want to go this route, you'd have to create a custom report on contacts and leads, export that report, clean up the file for editing, create a custom property on the contact object for disqualification status, re-import the contacts, create a workflow that copies that value from the custom contact disqualification reason property from the contact into the associated lead. It's possible but in my opinion a lot more prone to error than updating a handful of leads directly in HubSpot.

[PvanderValk]

Thanks! I hear what you are saying.

My predicament is that some of our reps have ~2000 Leads. Even inside of HubSpot, I can select several Leads at the same time, but I don't see how to use that to change their Stage in bulk or even delete all Leads and just start anew.

As automation doesn't seems to be a solution because there is nothing currently in the Leads itself that can be used to trigger an automation, and we can't bulk upload info into HubSpot, I am hoping you have any other ideas 🙂

How would you change thousands of Lead Stages in the most effective way?

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

@PvanderValk I would try to find anything on the contact record that can be used to determine which status the lead should have - and then create a contact-based workflow that updates the associated leads accordingly.

If there is no such data point, I would consider deleting all leads, if you're considering 90% not to be relevant - and then starting from scratch.

If neither works, I would simply go the unpleasant route of asking sales reps to update each lead in the CRM.

[PvanderValk]

Thanks! I really appreciate the advice. Final questions:

1. Deleting Leads does not delete the associated Contact or Company, correct?
2. How would you mass delete all Leads?

[karstenkoehler]

@PvanderValk correct, deleting a record (leads) does not delete associated records (contacts).

You could delete leads from the prospecting workspace by ticking the box in the top left corner and then clicking delete:

[PvanderValk]

Thanks. I will give this a try.